Redefining Happy Birthday
by jakxkeiraaddict
Summary: The twins' birthday is coming up, and mayhem ensues when Jak's plans for their big day aren't exactly what they had in mind. Sequel to "A Christmas Gone Awry", JakxKeira.
1. Breaking the Tedium

**Disclaimer: Neither FES nor I own any part of Jak and Daxter, everything except our OCs belongs to Naughty Dog.**

**JKA: Hey, y'all! Fire-Eco-Sage and I are back with our fourth story! We'll be going with our usual pattern of switching off between chapters, and this first one is FES's. Read, REVIEW, and enjoy. ^_^**

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**Chapter 1: Breaking the Tedium**

The hallways where empty at Mar High School, home of the Warriors. In English, Aleighna was watching with excitement as her teacher, Mr. Henry passed out their tests. She grinned when she saw her result — an A plus, as usual.

Glancing casually over at her friend Lizzy seated at the desk beside her, Aleighna noticed that the brunette girl was also smiling, kicked back in her chair with her feet propped up on her desk and her test in her hands.

"What did you get?" Aleighna asked, peering over at her friend's score.

"B plus, what did you get?" Lizzy asked.

"A plus. Good English runs in the family; my mom got good grades, my dad, even Jak," Aleighna said as she leaned back in her chair again. She looked at her sister, who was sleeping soundly on her desk, only to be woken up by her friend Ethan. "Apparently, it skipped a twin."

Mr. Henry gave Chris her paper, then, revealing the bright red D minus adorning the top. Chris looked at Aleighna, sticking her tongue out at her sibling as the latter shook her head sadly.

The final bell rang and they all ran out of the classroom.

"So, we're the big one-five tomorrow!" Chris announced as she leaned against the lockers lining the spacious hallway.

Aleighna pushed her English book in her locker and pulled out her homework.

"I can't believe it, so many things happened while we were fourteen. Keira got pregnant and we turned into cre-" Aleighna was cut off by Chris.

"We swore we wouldn't talk about it!" Chris growled, earning a laugh from her sister. "Wait, fifteen means… we. Have. To. Be. Mature." Chris gripped onto Aleighna's forearms and shook her with each word.

Aleighna rolled her eyes and got out of her sister's death grip. "Chris, we'll always be immature. Plus, we have to save our title when the baby is born."

"Yeah, if anyone is going to make Jak mad, it's us."

Aleighna smiled and they left the lockers. They walked out to the front of the school to meet the music of Jazz. Some kids were painting stuff on the walls, others were picking on anyone they saw. Chris and Aleighna sighed and walked toward two of their friends, Lizzy and Jay.

"Hey guys," they both said in unison.

"Hey," Lizzy said. "So, tomorrow is your birthday." The twins nodded, grinning at each other.

Suddenly, the screech of protesting brakes resounded through the front parking lot, and all four of them turned to see Jak and Keira waiting in their four-seat cruiser. The twins waved good-bye to their friends and climbed in, settling comfortably into the back seats.

"How was your day?" Keira asked.

"I got an A plus on my English test," Aleighna announced proudly.

"That's my girl," Keira praised.

"I got a D minus," Chris informed her, mocking her sister's smug tone and earning herself a punch in the arm.

"Best grade you've gotten this year," Keira noted, twisting around in her seat to smile at the younger duo. Both siblings beamed at the sapphire-haired she-elf, and then cast glances in their brother's direction. Jak hadn't said a word since they'd gotten in the zoomer, and his eyes were fixed firmly on the road ahead of him. This reminded the twins of the time they'd turned thirteen and Jak had remained silent until the next day.

Once they got home, the girls walked in their room and flopped down on two beanbags, pulling out their textbooks for some studying time.

* * *

_(Twenty minutes later)_

Aleighna looked up from her English book and Chris looked up from her book to meet her gaze.

"What did you get for question three?" Aleighna asked as Chris flipped through her notebook.

"I got x equals one-hundred-and-thirty-five," Chris said, looking up at her sister. Aleighna glanced from her, to her English book, and back again.

"Weren't we doing english?" Aleighna asked, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion. Shrugging dismissively, she leaned over to check the problem in her open math book that Chris had just answered. "And you got it wrong. It's x equals five."

Chris looked at her book and gave a shocked 'huh?'. Aleighna giggled and went back to her work. Chris touched Aleighna on her shoulder but she didn't look up. Frowning impatiently, Chris shoved her sibling and got Aleighna's attention.

"Oh good, you're listening. Did you hear about Brittany and Jake?" Chris gossiped. Aleighna shook her head. "Well, Jake invited Brittany to the party he's throwing this weekend, _after_ he'd already invited Luna."

Aleighna's jaw dropped at the news. "Luna from science?"

"No, Luna from cheer!"

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and the girls looked up at the same time. "Come in!" they called in unison.

The door swung open and Jak strolled into the room. His bangs were let down, which meant he was in no mood to fight with them. He was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt, which meant he was relaxed, and his gun was nowhere in sight. He looked sort of happy, a good sign.

"Hey girls, um, what are you doing?" Jak asked.

"Keira got pissed at you again?" Aleighna inquired nonchalantly. Jak grinned sheepishly.

"It's not my fault Heather wants to marry Kyle," he grumbled, leaning against the door. The girls knew he was talking about this soap opera that Keira was addicted to. She'd read that if a baby is a girl, watching soap operas would help avoid pregnancy at a young age; if it was a boy, on the other hand, he'd end up gay.

"Hey Jak, what are we doing for our birthday?" Chris asked. She and Aleighna both were hoping, no, _praying_, that Jak would act like his brotherly side and say 'whatever'. Instead, Jak's smile softened and he gazed at his little sisters in an almost fatherly way.

"I was planning on taking you girls to Barney's," he announced, shrugging away from the doorframe and taking his leave as if that settled the matter.

Moments later, Keira walked in, her hand held gingerly to her back to support her full belly. She noted that the twins looked as if they'd found out they were having a nephew, which would be quite the catastrophe as they were both hoping for a girl.

"What's wrong? I thought you liked Barney's," Keira asked, frowning. The girls looked up at Keira.

"Yeah, when we were seven!" Aleighna groaned.

Keira looked at Aleighna and then at Chris. "Come on, girls. Be nice to Jak."

"Keira, we haven't been nice to Jak since the moment he pinched us," Chris pointed out, reminding the older woman that Jak had used to pinch them when they were newborns because he hadn't known any better.

Keira shook her head and walked out. The girls rolled their eyes and got back to work.

"Chris?"

"Yeah?"

"WE ARE DOING ENGLISH FOR THE LAST FREAKING TIME!"

~X~

Aleighna and Chris walked out of the bathroom, ready for bed. They tucked themselves in and drifted off to sleep, ready for a new day.

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**JKA: And that's chapter 1 under the belt, ladies and gentlemen. Guess that means it's time for me to start on chapter 2 now. XD I'll try to get that up as soon as possible, in between schoolwork and other such nonsense.**


	2. Born to Make Trouble

**JKA: Hey everybody! So here's chapter two for anyone that happens to be reading this (I don't know for sure, seeing has how no one REVIEWED :P), I apologize for the wait. This is my chapter, so naturally it took me a little while to finish (as people familiar with my work-in-progress "Your Eternal Flame" will know ^^'). Anyways, usual disclaimers apply. Read, review, and enjoy! :D**

**P.S. Barney's is like the Jak-world version of Chuck-e-cheese.**

**(line here)**

**Chapter 2: Born to Make Trouble**

A loud, blaring noise erupted from somewhere within the twins' bedroom, jolting them both roughly from their slumber. Chris let out a startled cry and nearly fell out of her bed, while Aleighna groaned in exasperation and slammed her fist down on the irritating alarm clock. The obnoxious device quieted instantly, and the brunette girl heaved a sigh of relief, closing her eyes again whilst her sister flopped back down on her pillow, fully intent on falling back to sleep.

Fate seemed to have a vendetta against them that morning, however, for at that precise moment their bedroom door burst open, crashing into the wall with an earth-shaking _bang_. Both young she-elves moaned in frustration and slowly sat upright, only to be greeted by Keira's enthusiastic grin as she strolled into the room, her hands resting on her protruding stomach. Jak followed a step behind, his demeanor much more controlled than that of his fiancée's, despite the small smile playing around the corners of his lips.

"Happy birthday, girls!" Keira sang, taking a seat on the edge of Chris' bed and immediately breaking out into a chorus of the traditional birthday tune.

"Happy birthday," Jak echoed, allowing Keira to carry out the song on her own as he had never been one for singing — apart from the incident at Halloween, which he was never fond of recounting. He claimed a spot on Aleighna's bed, running a hand through his messy green-tinted hair. "Wow, I can't believe you two are fifteen already."

"Aw, don't get all sentimental on us now, Jak," Chris teased as soon as Keira finished her melody, earning herself a playful glare from her older brother. "You'll ruin your image."

"You can't ruin what you never had," Aleighna snorted, collapsing back down onto her mattress once more.

"Well, excuse me for being concerned about my baby sisters," the dark warrior retorted, arching one eyebrow incredulously.

"Hey, who are you calling a baby?" Chris demanded, folding her arms over her chest. "In case you hadn't noticed, Aleighna and I are _teenagers_, big guy."

"And speaking of us teenagers," Aleighna cut in crossly, her voice muffled due to the fact that she'd pulled her pillow over her face, "is there any particular reason why you felt the need to start our birthday at" — she glanced at the clock on her nightstand — "six-thirty in the morning?"

"We wanted to wish you happy birthday before you had to go to school," Keira replied, rolling her eyes as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Damn it," Chris sighed, yanking her blankets up over her head moodily. "I forgot it was still a school day."

"Can't we have the day off?" Aleighna piped up hopefully, removing herself from beneath her pillow and glancing at her elder sibling with pleading jade irises. "We've been good lately, after all. It's been almost two days since we last pulled a prank on someone."

"And besides, our math teacher wasn't hurt _that_ badly when he, er, 'accidentally' tripped down the stairs," Chris added, exchanging a devilish smirk with her twin.

"The day you two get a free day off from school is the day Daxter admits he's gay," Jak answered firmly, squashing any wishes of a work-free birthday the two youngest Mars were harboring.

"You're no fun," Aleighna complained, sticking her tongue out at the elf still seated at the foot of her bed.

"I don't know, Jak can be pretty _fun_ when he wants to be," Keira objected, a thin layer of innocence just barely concealing the double-meaning in her words. She threw her fiancée a suggestive wink, resulting in a low chuckle from said three-time world-savior.

"I could have gone my whole life without knowing that," Chris grumbled, covering her ears dramatically and scowling at the couple.

"And now I'll never be able to go back to sleep with _that_ image in my head," Aleighna put it, rubbing her eyes tiredly as a gaping yawn escaped her throat.

"Good, that means you can get ready for school," Keira smiled, laughing at the burning looks both twins directed at her. "We'll leave you to it, then."

Across from her, Jak rose to his feet and held out his hand, smiling when she took it and helping her up.

"Happy birthday again, girls!" Keira giggled as Jak towed her out of the room, a roguish gleam in his eyes that his sisters did not miss.

"Precursors, save it for the honeymoon, guys!" Aleighna called at the duo's retreating forms, shaking her head in exasperation.

As soon as the door clicked shut behind them, Chris turned to face her auburn-haired double, mild repulsion clear on her every feature.

"We should probably avoid those two until we have to leave if we value our sanity," she surmised, remembering all-too-clearly the many times they'd walked in on Jak and Keira during one of their more heated moments.

"Amen to that," Aleighna agreed whole-heartedly, shuddering at the far less than pleasant mental pictures of their sibling and his future wife — whenever they got around to planning a wedding, that was.

With simultaneous groans, both she-elves reluctantly hopped out of bed, stretching and heading to their respective closets to get dressed.

* * *

Nearly half an hour later, and the double-trouble twins was fairly presentable; fully clothed, hair styled to their individual preferences, teeth brushed. They emerged from the sanctuary of their bedroom, Aleighna a step behind Chris, and treaded cautiously down the hallway towards the front room, praying fervently that they wouldn't be greeted by anything that would further scar them for life.

Those ambitions were dashed, however, when Chris entered the living room and immediately skidded to a halt, causing Aleighna to run straight into her.

"Sweet Precursors, Jak, why don't you get an effing _room_ like normal people?" the blonde-haired girl yelled, covering her face with her hands in an effort to block the scene before her from her mind.

Unable to quell her curiosity despite her instincts screaming protests at her, Aleighna peered around her sister to discover what it was that had startled her. Almost instantly, she wished she hadn't.

The two eldest members of the Mar-Hagai household were currently sprawled out on the living room's solitary couch, Jak hovering a few inches above Keira. His weight was being supported on his forearms so as not to crush her rounded stomach, and the couple was locked in a fiercely ardent kiss that nearly bordered on foreplay.

"You'd think I would be used to this by now, but it never fails to be beyond disturbing," Aleighna mumbled to herself, quickly adverting her gaze from her brother and his pregnant girlfriend.

As if they'd finally noticed the identical pair's presence, Jak and Keira broke apart with obvious disinclination, the latter glancing casually over at his siblings.

"Time to go?" he questioned nonchalantly, as if he hadn't just been caught in a rather inappropriate position with the she-elf beneath him.

"Oh, no, don't mind us," Chris scoffed, removing her fingers from her face and placing her hands on her hips instead. "We can be late for school, no problem. You just continue your little make-out session."

She paused for the length of a heartbeat, and then blinked when she realized what she'd just said, her expression shifting to a sly grin. "On second thought, you crazy kids enjoy yourselves. I wouldn't mind missing first period…"

Aleighna elbowed her sister discreetly in the ribs, earning a disgruntled "hey!" from said fifteen-year-old.

"What Chris _means_ is," the jade-eyed girl amended, heaving a silent sigh of relief as Jak straightened up into a more polite manner for an audience, "we've got a test in Ancient Precursorian today, and if I fail it because my brother and practical sister-in-law couldn't take _five minutes_ out of their 'busy' schedule to take us to school on time, then I'll know whose morph-gun to take apart later."

"You taught her how to disassemble my morph?" Jak demanded, throwing Keira a swift glance that was far more shocked than angry.

"Hey, she got her homework done early one day and she was bored," Keira replied matter-of-factly, sitting up after a bit of effort and shrugging.

Rolling his eyes in exasperation, Jak leapt off of the couch and stretched lazily. He half-turned and extended a hand to Keira, aiding her in hauling herself to her feet.

"Well, what are we doing standing around here, then?" Jak asked rhetorically, towing Keira along behind him as he strode calmly out of the room, heading for the front door.

The twins watched the place where the dark warrior and mechanic had disappeared in baffled silence, neither of them quite able to comprehend what had just happened. After a moment, they exchanged a questioning look, and then both shrugged indifferently. They picked up their backpacks from where they'd been thrown haphazardly by the end of the couch and slung them over their shoulders, following their elder sibling out.

* * *

The screech of tortured brakes resounded throughout the parking lot of Mar High, causing several people to stare at the offending four-seat cruiser with wide eyes. Jak — oblivious to the reactions of the spectators — left the engine to idle and twisted around in the front seat to grin at his sisters, his hair windblown from the sound-barrier-breaking speed of his driving.

"Don't forget we're going to Barney's later this evening," he reminded the two younger Mars as they clambered out of the vehicle.

"Shh! Not so loud!" Chris reprimanded, scanning the surrounding students frantically to make sure no one had heard the blonde hero's statement.

"Do you think we want the whole school to know?" Aleighna added, scowling and attempting to hide her face in one hand.

"Girls!" Keira scolded, causing both twins to fall silent and shift their focus to her. "Remember what I told you yesterday."

"Sorry, Keira," the aforementioned duo muttered in unison, neither wishing to invoke their pregnant friend's unpredictable wrath.

"We'll see you two after school," Jak announced, offering his sisters a lazy wave and then slamming his foot on the accelerator pedal, peeling out of the parking lot before either of them could even draw a breath.

"You'd think he'd give his poor kid some crippling birth defect with that kind of driving," Chris remarked dryly, earning an amused snort from her opposite.

"Precursors, your brother's hot…" a new voice commented dreamily, causing both Mars to whip around in surprise.

"Lizzy, I think you have some serious issues to work out," Aleighna laughed, greeting her best friend with a smirk.

"Happy birthday, guys," Chris' friend Jay cut in before Lizzy could fire off a retort. "And speaking of your birthday, tough break getting stuck with the over-protective older brother."

"Yeah, is he really going to make you celebrate turning fifteen at _Barney's_?" Lizzy demanded, her dark brown eyes glittering with sympathy.

"Shit, you heard that?" Chris grumbled, heaving an irritated sigh. Her companions nodded empathetically in response.

"He's really going to make us go there, yes," Aleighna admitted reluctantly, running a hand through her auburn hair in annoyance.

"Dude, that sucks," Jay consoled the twins as the four of them began walking towards the center quad of the school.

"Tell me about it," Chris muttered, rolling her eyes in Aleighna's general direction.

"Hey, you can't blame him for not wanting us to grow up," Aleighna pointed out, instinctually jumping to her elder sibling's defense. "Mom and Dad probably would have been the same way if they were here."

"Holy socks of the Precursors!" Lizzy exclaimed randomly, interrupting whatever Chris was about to say in response to her sister's words. "I've got the most brilliant idea!"

"Is it hijacking one of Keira's racing zoomers again?" Chris queried, shaking her head wearily. "Because I still have the scars from the _last_ time we tried that, and let me tell you Keira was _pissed_ when she found out —"

"No, this is better!" Lizzy insisted, beaming at the other three girls as they paused near the entrance to the cafeteria. "What if instead of being dragged out to Barney's with your brother, you two sneak out after school and we'll go catch a movie!"

"What?" Aleighna demanded, blinking at her closest friend as if she'd gone insane. "You're kidding, right? Do you really think _us_ of all people would just go behind Jak's back and —"

"I'm in!" Chris yelled enthusiastically, bumping fists with Lizzy and exchanging a grin with Jay.

Aleighna smacked her palm against her forehead exacerbation. "I spoke too soon."

"Come on, 'Leighna, it'll be fun!" her cerulean-eyed doppelganger encouraged, clapping her sibling on the shoulder. "And we'll be back before Jak even has time to notice we were gone!"

"I don't —" Aleighna attempted to protest, but the nerve-grating buzz of the school bell cut her off, signaling the start of first period.

"We'll talk about it more at lunch," Lizzy decided as she and Jay headed off to their separate classes, waving in farewell to the Mars.

"Why do I even bother?" the brunette member of said duo sighed, allowing her sister to tow her away in the direction of their Ancient Precursorian class.

* * *

By the time lunch rolled around, Chris had pumped herself up until it seemed as if she would explode from the anticipation of skipping out on a trip to Barney's with Jak. Aleighna, on the other hand, had refused to be convinced that what her sibling was planning was acceptable, and remained stubbornly indifferent to Chris' many excited descriptions of the night ahead of them.

"For the love of Mar, Aleighna, live a little for once!" the golden-haired girl scoffed as she and her sister made their way to the table where they ate lunch with their friends.

"Hey, I live plenty, thank you very much," Aleighna snorted, folding her arms moodily over her chest. "Who's the one that's always getting into trouble with you?"

"Exactly, so what's the big deal about going to the movies?" Chris questioned, pausing in her argument with her jade-eyed counterpart to greet their schoolmates.

"It just… doesn't seem right," Aleighna admitted quietly, so as not to attract attention to herself. "I don't like the idea of sneaking out just to avoid Jak. I hate hurting him."

"Pfft, I think it's Keira's job to look out for Jak's well-being, sis," Chris remarked sarcastically, taking a seat beside Jay. "_She's_ Jak's fiancée, after all. We're _supposed_ to pick on and/or annoy him, that's what little siblings _do_."

"Someone trying to skip out on our movie plans?" Lizzy inquired from where she sat across from the bickering Mars, snickering when Aleighna shot her a heated glare.

"Nah, she just needs a little more convincing is all," Chris shrugged, ignoring the defiant growl she received from her sister. "Anyway, so what's the plan exactly?"

"Well, I was thinking that we could go see _17 Again_," Jay piped up, obviously continuing a conversation she and Lizzy had been having before the Mars' arrival. "There are showings playing about every hour the last time I checked."

"Yeah, so we can go at around four or so," Lizzy added thoughtfully, all her attention focused on Chris as Aleighna seemed to have excluded herself from the discussion. "Do you think you guys can make a break for it by then?"

"Of course," Chris assured her, a smug grin tugging at the edges of her lips. "We can be out of the house and gone in ten minutes, tops."

"Hold on, back up a second here," Aleighna snapped, glowering at each of the other girls present in turn. "What if I just so happen to tell Jak about your little escape plan?"

"Please, Aleighna, do you _really_ want to stick around the house and be taken to Barney's just to spare Jakky-boy's feelings?" Chris reminded her, mentally breaking out into a victory dance when her twin's fierce expression faltered. "I know you want to be nice to him, but Jak's not exactly a softy, you know."

"Well… I suppose not…" Aleighna surrendered, hating to divulge that she would much rather spend her birthday at the movies with her friends than trapped in a toddler's paradise with her elder brother.

"Alright, I'd say that settles it then," Lizzy announced triumphantly, beaming at each of her companions. "The two of you will sneak out and meet Jay and me at the theater at four for a _real_ birthday party. As soon as the movie's over, you'll slip back home, and Jak will be none-the-wiser."

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**JKA: Ahh, yes. The double-trouble twins are at it again. Honestly, this chapter ended up being a bit shorter than I'd originally hoped, but I hope it was enjoyable nonetheless. Anyway, please review, and next chapter up is FES'!**


	3. Masters of Stealth Or Not

**JKA: Hey, everyone! We're back! :D Sorry it took so long to update this, but _somebody_ *coughFEScough* took forever to write it. Nah, just kiddin', you're no worse than I am, FES. XD**

**Anyway, this chapter was written by my lovely fantasy-world sister, Fire-Eco-Sage, and then betaed by yours truly. Sorry if you find any errors or words that seem to be repeated a lot in it, but apart from my initial run-through and editing, I haven't really revised any of it. :P But aside from that, usual disclaimers apply. Read, REVIEW, and enjoy~**

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**Chapter 3: Masters of Stealth... Or Not**

The final bell rang at Haven High School, waking the majority of the Mar twins' English class — including Chris — and jolting them from their dreams of boyfriends, girlfriends, and torching the school to the ground — with their unsuspecting teachers in it.

Aleighna slid her notebook off of her desk and placed it neatly into her bag, hauling herself to her feet. She picked up her backpack and slung it over her shoulder, glancing over at her sister. Chris threw her empty notebook roughly into her pack, irritated at having been woken from her doze. She followed Aleighna as the two of them wove between the rows of scattered desks, exiting the classroom as quickly as possible.

Out in the hallway, Lizzy and Jay were in the midst of planning which movie theater they would all meet at later that day. Aleighna and Chris had hardly reached their friends when the screech of abused brakes rang painfully in their ears. The twins squeezed their eyes shut, praying that it was some other psychotic driver, anyone other than —

"Aleighna! Chris! Time to go to Barney's!" Jak yelled from his cruiser, dashing his younger siblings hopes. Everyone within earshot — even the nearby teachers — glanced sharply at Aleighna and Chris, the whole parking lot promptly exploding into a chorus of hysterical laughter. The mortified duo slapped their palms to their foreheads in exasperation, begging their friends to put them out of their misery.

"Come on!" Lizzy encouraged, dragging the birthday girls to their brother's vehicle. She glanced at Jay over her shoulder, realizing that the boy wasn't following her. "Aren't you coming?"

"No way, man! That guy scares me!" Jay protested, shaking his head frantically. Lizzy shrugged nonchalantly and began to tow her hostages along again.

Keira — in her usual seat beside Jak — blinked in surprise when she spotted Lizzy with the two sisters, the latter of which were pleading for mercy from their captor.

"Hi, Lizzy. Is something wrong?" Keira asked, quirking one eyebrow suspiciously at the younger girls.

Lizzy just smiled and pulled the twins up to her sides.

"Nothing," she reassured Keira, throwing one arm around each of her companion's shoulders. "I just wanted to wish these two knuckleheads 'happy birthday'." She pulled the sisters in closer and added under her breath, "Meet us at the movie theater at the Port, at three."

She released Aleighna and Chris and walked back to where Jay was waiting for her. The sisters climbed into the cruiser, barely having time to strap themselves in before their brother sped from the school grounds at breakneck speeds.

During the entire ride, Chris kept her nose buried in a large book, flipping impatiently through its pages.

"What are you doing?" Aleighna asked, craning her neck to study what exactly her other half was reading.

"I'm looking for a prayer in the Precursor Bible," Chris replied, still scanning the tiny black print before her. She shifted her attention to the back of Jak's head, narrowing her eyes and lifting the heavy tome so that it was pointed at her bother.

"Feel the power of the Bible!" she muttered, hoping that Jak hadn't heard her or else the priest would have had to put the Bible over her dead body.

"Chris, I wouldn't play with that!" Aleighna warned her, sighing at her sister's antics. "Read 'David 13:5'."

Chris skimmed through the Bible and found the page Aleighna had indicated.

"'The Ten Commandments for Children,'" Chris read aloud, earning an approving nod from her twin. "'Do not disrespect your elders, for thy who does so may suffer —'"

The blonde-haired she-elf was abruptly cut off by the squeal of protesting brakes and her head nearly colliding with the seat in front of her. She just managed to avoid an unpleasant introduction to the hard object, only to have Aleighna thrown into her, their heads knocking together painfully.

"Sorry, girls, but we've got to go to the store," Jak announced, twisting around to face his sisters. "We'll be back at around four to pick you up."

The twins nodded in response, both heaving a silent sigh of relief. They got out of the cruiser and strolled up to the glass doors of the Flower Plaza, the sound of Jak peeling out of the parking lot echoing behind them.

Aleighna pulled out her key and opened the main doors of the apartment building. She and Chris wove through the throng of residents in the lobby, trudging up the staircase on the opposite end of the room. They traversed the long second-floor hallway, scanning each apartment number absentmindedly as they passed by.

When they finally arrived at their front door, Chris pulled out her key and unlocked it. She and her sister stepped over the threshold and moved through the house to the living room, identical gasps of surprise falling from their lips at the sight that greeted them.

On the couch sat their friends Sam and Zack, both completely relaxed as if they had every right to be there. Sam's light brown hair was tied back into pigtails, and her arm hung lazily over the arm of the sofa, her chocolate eyes radiating boredom.

Beside her, Zack was leaning back against the cushions, drumming his fingers on his leg as though he were deep in thought. His blonde hair was in disarray, as if he hadn't bothered to comb it, and his auburn irises were distant, further emphasizing the idea that he was contemplating something unknown to the three girls present.

Stunned silence hung in the air for a moment, and then Sam seemed to realize that the Mars had appeared, for she glanced curiously in their direction.

"What are you guys doing here?" she asked, blinking as if she were confused by the twins' presence.

"Uh, we live here," Aleighna reminded her cautiously, studying the freckled she-elf with clear exasperation.

One of Sam's eyebrows arched upwards, a frown tugging at her slightly rounded features. "Huh, I must have taken the wrong bus."

"How did you get in here?" Chris demanded, folding her arms over her chest irritably.

"Oh, Zack used his new invention," Sam replied matter-of-factly. Neither of the other females in the room questioned this statement, as Zack was always creating some new technical device or another — a trait that assured he got on with Keira extremely well whenever he actually saw her.

As if alerted by the sound of his name, Zack broke out of whatever reverie he'd been absorbed in, turning his attention to the two sisters.

"This is home," he said, throwing the blonde member of the duo in front of him a sly smirk. Zack and Chris had never gotten along with one another, not since the fateful day when Jak had proclaimed that the two of them should get married. He'd taken a liking to Zack after noticing how smart the boy was. Needless to say, his suggestion did not go over well with his younger sibling.

Chris growled like an animal at Zack in response to his words, her arms unfolding and her hands curling into fists at her sides.

"Only crocadogs growl like that, Chris," the brainiac teased, narrowing his eyes playfully at her. "Oh wait, I forgot; you are one."

Chris snarled dangerously at him, her expression radiating fury. Beside her, Aleighna heaved an aggravated sigh.

"Sam, Zack, would both of you _please_ just get out?" Aleighna groaned, gesturing pointedly to the front door. "Chris and I have to go!"  
As soon as those words left her mouth, Aleighna realized the inevitable consequences of them, but by then it was too late. Sam launched herself off of the couch so quickly that she nearly took Zack with her, skidding to a halt in front of Aleighna and bouncing up and down excitedly.

"Where are you going? Is it a secret club? Are you meeting a guy? Are they twins? Do they have a brother?" Sam questioned all in one breath, leaning eagerly into Aleighna's face.

"Why should we tell you, of all people?" Chris snorted, knowing Sam's lack of self-control when it came to secrets; she was nearly as bad as Daxter was at spreading gossip. Once Sam learned of something that she judged as a juicy tidbit, then the whole city would know about it by nightfall. "You'll go running to Jak and give us away."

The cerulean-eyed girl jabbed her thumb in Zack's direction. "And I'm sure Zack would be more than happy to tell him."

Zack grinned to himself, his mind entertaining the image of Jak yelling at the twins for whatever they were trying to hide.

"I promise I won't tell!" Sam begged insistently, clasping her hands together in front of her. "I cross my heart! I pinky swear! Just _tell me_!"

Aleighna rolled her eyes, shaking her head wearily at Sam's display.

"_Fine_," she spat, glaring dangerously at the auburn-haired she-elf. "Chris and I are going to the movies with Jay and Lizzy, a fact that Jak is unaware of. And we'd like to keep it that way, so _shush_."

With the secret revealed, both Zack and Sam seemed to decide that it was no longer worth their time to remain in the Mar household. Together the two of them exited the apartment, snatching a bottle of soda from the fridge on their way out.

Sighing in exasperation, Aleighna and Chris dropped their backpacks by the end of the couch and headed through the house, ducking into the sanctuary of their bedroom. They both treaded over to their respective closets, skimming through their clothes in search of something to wear to the movies.

A few minutes and several rejected outfits later, Aleighna emerged from the bathroom, sporting a neon green shirt. She studied herself in the mirror for a moment, and turned to Chris for a second opinion.

"So?" she inquired simply, spinning around to give her blonde counterpart a full view. Chris glanced up at her, absentmindedly releasing the blue elastic band she'd been stretching on the end of a pencil. The band flung itself off of the pencil and struck Aleighna square in the cheek.

"Chris!" the jade-eyed girl shouted, her hand flying up to cradle her injured face. She shifted her attention back to the mirror, scowling when she spotted the thin, red mark that was forming on her skin.

"Oh my God! Aleighna, I'm so sorry!" Chris gasped in horror, racing over to her sibling. She removed Aleighna's hand from the latter's face, relieved to see the Light Eco in her system healing the minor damage.

Aleighna huffed crossly at her sister.

"Just tell me if this shirt makes me look fat," Aleighna grumbled, clearly irked. Chris examined the aforementioned t-shirt, scratching her chin thoughtfully.

"It makes you look like an overweight Metal Saur," Chris replied flatly, sitting back down on the end of her bed. Aleighna frowned at her twin in obvious hurt, only receiving an innocent look from said twin in response. "What? It's true."

"You act like a little kid," Aleighna muttered, resuming her search within the confines of her closet. She quickly scanned each item of clothing as she touched it, one after the other earning her stamp of disapproval.

"No. No. Nope. Hey… no. Hell no!"

She pulled out a tie-dye tank top marked with a soccer ball in the center, her eyebrows furrowing as she scrutinized it. The words "Don't Hate the Love for Soccer" were scrawled across the top of the shirt in white lettering.

Chris lifted her head to see what had caught Aleighna's interest. In an instant she was on her feet, yanking the shirt out of her sister's hands.

"Hey, this is mine!" Chris snapped, running her eyes over the top speculatively. "Well, now I know what to wear, anyway." She discarded the shirt she currently had on and pulled the tie-dye one over her head in its place. Beside her, Aleighna finally settled on something that was suitable for going out to the movies, and promptly changed, approving of her new outfit with a swift glance at the mirror.

Once both twins were satisfied with their appearances, they exited their bedroom, treading down the hall and emerging into the living room. Now all that was left was to wait for Jak and Keira to pick them up and take them to Barney's.

As if on cue, an earth-shattering _boom_ reverberated throughout the house, causing both Chris and Aleighna to jump in fright. The front door burst open to reveal Jak on the other side, his arm wound affectionately around Keira's waist while the young mechanic's hands rested on her prominent stomach.

"We're home!" Jak announced, rather unnecessarily as the couple's not-so-grand entrance had effectively broadcasted their arrival for them. The dark warrior chuckled at his siblings as they attempted to slow their heart rates to a normal level, his cerulean gaze sparkling with amusement. "You two ready to go?"

"We're ready," Chris confirmed, while Aleighna nodded in agreement to her statement. Jak smiled at his sisters and turned to lead Keira back the way they had come. Before he had the chance to walk more than a few steps, however, Keira wriggled out of his half-embrace, moving to stand beside the other two she-elves.

"Aren't you coming?" Jak asked his fiancée, his head tilting unconsciously to one side in bewilderment.

"I want to have a word with the girls," Keira replied cryptically, offering him a reassuring smile. Jak nodded in understanding and disappeared out the front entry.

As soon as her boyfriend was out of earshot, Keira closed the door behind him, spinning around to face the Demolition Duo. Chris took a seat on the arm of the couch while Aleighna chose to occupy one of the cushions, both waiting curiously to hear whatever Keira wanted to say to them.

"You are so busted," Keira scolded, striding menacingly towards her practical sister-in-laws and placing her hands on her hips. "I know all about your plans to ditch Jak. Do I look that stupid to you?"

She paused when she was a mere foot away from where Chris resided, causing the latter to topple off of her perch and right into her sister's lap for fear of the teal-haired woman's wrath. "I'm ashamed of you two. Jak was really excited to take you to Barney's, the least you can do is go!"

"For the record, it was Chris' idea!" Aleighna piped up timidly, attempting to save her own hide. Chris elbowed her lightly in the stomach to shut her up, swallowing nervously as exhaled heavily through her nose.

"Wait, how did you find out?" Chris questioned, struggling into an upright position and giving her terrified counterpart room to breathe.

Keira jerked her thumb toward the front door, her eyes narrowed to glowing emerald slits. "Sam just told me. But don't change the subject! Now march your scrawny asses to the cruiser, or so help me, pregnant or not, I will impale the pair of you with a dull screwdriver!"

Neither of the Mars needed to be told twice. Both of them had leapt up from the couch and vanished out into the hallway before Keira even had time to blink.

* * *

When the Mar-Hagai quartet arrived at Barney's, the four of them automatically made their way to the table that had been reserved for them. They all took a seat in the dark green booth, the twins on the opposite end of the table from their brother and his girlfriend.

It was only a few minutes later that a waiter — no, a _hot_ waiter — wearing a dinosaur hat approached their table and introduced himself.

"Here you go," he said cheerfully, handing them their menus and flashing Aleighna a particularly warm smile. Aleighna instantly noticed the gesture and eagerly returned it, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear shyly. "What can I get for you all today?"

"A life," Chris muttered under her breath, earning herself an elbow to the ribs from her better half.

"The Caveman's Life, excellent choice!" the waiter beamed, scribbling the order onto his notepad.

"Really?" Chris mouthed silently, exchanging a shocked glance with her sister.

"This place is crazy," Aleighna whispered, drawing the attention of their still-grinning waiter.

"And that's one Crazy Platter. Wow, you guys eat small," the waiter chuckled, adding Aleighna's "order" to his pad and then turning to Jak and Keira. The girls shook their heads numbly, wondering what exactly they'd done to wind up in the toddler's rendition of a nuthouse.

After several minutes — that felt more like years — of hearing little kids scream and shout, the twins finally managed to stop banging their heads against the stoned tables. They cast their attention to their elder brother, and both were unsurprised to see him in the middle of an intimate moment with Keira. The mechanic caught their eyes over Jak's shoulder and pointed discreetly towards the main entrance, silently granting them permission. The girls smiled their thanks and quietly slipped out of their seats, making sure not to draw the focus of their brother.

Once they were out of sight and earshot of Jak, Chris pulled a communicator out of her pocket and dialed a few numbers. Aleighna glanced from her sister, to the device, and back again, one eyebrow quirked questioningly.

"What? I got it from Jak." Chris explained, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Finally, after an extended conversation on the communicator and much arguing, a cruiser a bit larger than Jak's pulled up outside the restaurant. Lizzy and Jay were waving at the twins from inside, while Jay's mother occupied the driver's seat.

"Who's ready to party?" Jay exclaimed as the Mars approached, squeezing into the vehicle beside their friends.

As soon as they were strapped in, the five of them sped away from Barney's, leaving Jak and Keira behind inside.

There was no turning back now.

* * *

**JKA: And now, ladies and gentlemen, the real mayhem begins. XD Next chapter up is mine, so there's no telling when I'll have an update for you guys. Got a lot of other things to work on at the moment, but now that it's summer I'll have plenty of free time to do it in. :D**

**Reviews are greatly appreciated, so if you've got the time, leave us some feedback!**

**FES: Or I'll beat you with my dinosaur hat! Rawr~**

**JKA: Where did you get that?**

**FES: I stole it from the hot waiter.**

**JKA: *facepalm***


	4. Of Family and Anger Issues

**JKA: Ho-ly crap, this took me FOREVER to finish. Seriously, this story hasn't been updated in three months! If it wasn't for FES, I probably wouldn't have written this chapter until December at the earliest.**

**FES: Pfft, no kidding.**

**JKA: Eh heh heh. ^^; ...I take no responsibility for my own laziness/busy schedule. But anyway, this is the final chapter of this story, written by yours truly, so I'mma shush now and let you all read on. Oh, but I have to apologize if this doesn't seem as well-edited as usual, because I was anxious to put it up so I didn't go through and revise as much as I normally do. Usual disclaimers apply. Read, review, and enjoy the maddness!**

**FES: And slap fights. Don't forget the slap fights.**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Of Family and Anger Issues**

The neon-splattered building reverberated with the high-pitched squeals of toddlers and the many different clangs and whistles of ticket-spewing arcade games. In the case of a certain world-saving elf, however, the chaos fell on deaf ears. He was far too concerned with losing himself in two glittering pools of the deepest emerald to notice the explosion of noise around him.

Allowing a gentle smile to grace his features reserved only for the woman he loved, Jak brushed his fingers through Keira's hair, pulling her in for a tender kiss. A queit sigh escaped Keira's throat the second their lips connected, sending a light shiver cascading down Jak's spine.

Quite abruptly, Keira separated from her fiancée, ignoring the disappointed scowl she received in response. Her eyes were wide with surprise, her hands flying to her abdomen from where they'd previously been draped around Jak's neck.

"Keir, what's wrong?" Jak demanded immediately, having noticed her movements and automatically assuming the worst. He wound his arms around her in a protective embrace, his expression radiating concern. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, Jak," Keira soothed him, her forest-green gaze sparkling with excitement as she met his ocean-blue. "Better than fine, actually. Feel right here."

She picked up one of his hands as she spoke, placing it lightly atop her swollen stomach and covering his fingers with her own slender ones.

A beat of silence passed between the two, and then Jak started slightly when he felt a faint nudge against his palm. He glanced swiftly up at Keira, a slow grin tugging at the corners of his mouth and his cerulean irises alight with a dazed kind of awe.

"Someone's an active little guy, isn't he?" Jak pondered aloud, his tone mirroring the wonder written all over his face.

"Yes, our little _girl_ certainly is," Keira laughed, beaming at her dumbstruck boyfriend. This was one of the rare moments when Jak actually let his guard down and allowed himself to loosen up a bit, an event that only occurred when he was around her. It made Keira feel content and humble as one to know that he was comfortable displaying his softer side with her — one of the many reasons why she loved him.

Rather than respond to her retort verbally, Jak simply pressed an affectionate kiss to Keira's forehead, inhaling her familiar scent.

_Wait a second…_ Jak mused to himself, his smile fading and his eyebrows furrowing in suspicion as he realized that something seemed a bit… off. _Something's not right. Normally Aleighna or Chris would have jumped in with a sarcastic remark by now._

Lifting his head, Jak shifted his focus to the opposite side of the table, intent on discovering why his siblings were acting as if they'd suddenly gone mute. Some distant part of his mind sensed Keira stiffen unexpectedly in his arms, but that particular detail was shoved forcefully from his thoughts when he realized that the booth across from him was completely vacant.

Jak blinked once at the spot his sisters had previously occupied, and then he turned back to Keira, a trickle of foreboding snaking its way through his veins. He struggled to convince himself that the twins had merely run off to play a few arcade games, but all of his finer instincts told him he was kidding himself.

"Keira," he began, his voice ominously smooth — the calm before the storm. "Where are they?"

The young mechanic bit her lip uncertainly, the urge to tell her future-husband whatever she knew clearly at war with something Jak couldn't quite identify in her eyes.

_I don't like where this is going…_ Jak thought, gazing at the she-elf beside him warily and noticing her shift uncomfortably.

"Maybe they just went to explore, pick on a few little kids," Keira hedged, breaking away from the force of the dark warrior's stare before she could be compelled into telling the truth. "You know how they are."

"Keira," Jak repeated more forcefully. He tilted her chin upwards with his index finger so that their eyes reconnected, his expression hard. "I know there's something you're not telling me. We've known each other too long for me to not be able to tell when you're lying."

For a heartbeat it appeared as though Keira were about to argue, and then she heaved a reluctant sigh, hating to admit that he was right.

"I promised them I wouldn't give them away, so you're going to pay for making me go against my word, Jak Mar," Keira warned him, her lips twisting downwards in obvious displeasure. "They left a little while ago to go to the movies with a few friends."

"They did _what_?" Jak growled, anger finally starting to leak through the careful composure he'd restrained it behind.

"Well, can you blame them?" Keira questioned rhetorically, arching one delicate eyebrow at the blonde incredulously.

"And just what is that supposed to mean?" Jak snapped, his infamous temper flaring dangerously as his self-control began to crack.

"Look around you, Jak!" his pregnant girlfriend shot right back, waving her hand toward the bright, childishly decorated walls encompassing them. "They're turning _fifteen_, and you brought them to a place full of screaming toddlers and talking stuffed animals! Didn't you ever stop to think that maybe they didn't want to come here in the first place?"

A pang of guilt seized Jak's chest briefly as it dawned on him that Keira might have a point, but his stubborn pride wouldn't allow him to acknowledge it.

Venting his rage — both self-directed and not — in the form of a snarl, Jak leapt to his feet, pausing only to offer a hand to Keira.

"Are you coming or not?" he asked flippantly when she didn't move, watching her with irises like chips of solid ice.

After a second's hesitation, Keira resigned to permitting Jak to help her stand, looking none-too-thrilled about doing so. She really didn't want to be a part of the argument that would no doubt ensue between the Mars when Jak caught up with his siblings, but seeing as how the former was her ride home, she didn't have much of a choice in the matter.

Exhaling wearily, Keira trailed behind Jak as he stormed out of the nauseatingly colorful building, on a warpath for two blissfully unsuspecting teenagers.

* * *

Aleighna's foot drummed against the floor of the cruiser agitatedly, her fingers curling and uncurling as she stared blankly at the buildings whipping by her.

"Precursors, Aleighna, _relax_," Chris huffed from beside her twitchy other half, exchanging an eye-roll with Lizzy. "You're jumpier than a spooked crocadog."

"Easy for you to say," Aleighna muttered, gnawing on her bottom lip nervously.

"Jak will be fine without us," Chris insisted, laying a comforting hand on her sister's shoulder. "And besides, with Keira distracting him, he won't even have time to miss us."

"I don't know…" the auburn-haired girl sighed, turning to face her twin with anxious jade irises. "This just doesn't feel right to me."

"Ah, quit being paranoid," Lizzy chided her lightly, reaching around Chris to tug on one of Aleighna's wavy locks in what was supposed to be an affectionate gesture. "You need to loosen up once in a while. Nobody can be perfect all the time, you know."

"And would you really rather spend your birthday in little kid hell with your overprotective older brother, anyway?" Jay piped up from the passenger seat, twisting around to throw the three she-elves a crooked grin.

"I… suppose not," Aleighna surrendered grudgingly, not quite able to suppress a shudder at the mere thought of it.

"Alright, guys, we're here," Jay's mom announced cheerfully, either having completely missed the last several minutes of conversation or choosing to ignore it. The group of friends glanced around themselves in surprise as the vehicle pulled up outside Haven's only cinema; they'd been so intent on their discussion that they hadn't even noticed they'd reached their destination.

"Wow, that was fast," Lizzy stated the obvious, earning herself three distant nods in return.

"Let's get this party started!" Chris cheered, clambering over Lizzy's lap and stumbling out of the cruiser before anyone else even had time to blink.

Aleighna watched her sister race away for a moment, and then she shifted her attention to Jay's mother, grinning sheepishly.

"Thanks for the ride," she offered gratefully, a sentiment that was echoed by her two remaining companions.

"Anytime," the chipper woman replied, smiling kindly as the teens began to file out of her vehicle. "Oh, and don't worry, I won't tell Jak where you've gone."

The more docile half of the Demolition Duo paused mid-stride, throwing Jay's mom a stunned look over her shoulder. She shook herself quickly an instant later and scurried after her friends, not wanting to be left behind.

Perhaps the elder she-elf hadn't been so oblivious to their plans after all.

Jay, Lizzy, and Aleighna — panting a bit as she caught up with the others — pushed open the glass entrance doors of the movie theater, immediately spotting Chris leaning against the ticket counter. They headed over to join the over-excited Mar sibling, Aleighna's eyes narrowing suspiciously when a flicker of relief passed over her opposite's face.

"Hey, Aleighna, oh wonderful sister of mine, would you —" Chris began sweetly, slinging her arm casually over Aleighna's shoulders, only to be cut off by the latter before she could finish her sentence.

"Whatever it is, no," Aleighna grumbled, ducking out from under the blonde girl's semi-embrace and folding her arms over her chest.

"Aw, come on," Chris implored, gazing at her brunette doppelganger with wide, innocent blue orbs. "I don't have enough money to get in. Can't you pay for my ticket just this once? Or would you rather I sit out her all by my lonesome while you go off and have fun for _our_ birthday without me?"

"What do you mean, 'just this once'?" Aleighna huffed, fixing a stern glower in place in order to hide the fact that Chris' pitiful expression was chipping away at her resolve. "I _always_ end up paying for —"

Her words broke off suddenly as Chris clasped her hands pleadingly in front of her, looking for all the world like an abandoned crocadog pup. The duo stared each other down in charged silence while Lizzy and Jay observed from the sidelines, evidently amused.

"Ugh, _fine_," Aleighna gave in eventually with no small amount of reluctance. "But you owe me."

"I knew you'd come around," Chris laughed, capturing her twin in a headlock and mussing up her hair fondly.

"Would you two quit arguing like an old married couple and buy your tickets already?" Lizzy snorted, fanning herself with the receipt she'd received upon purchasing her own ticket in over-dramatized boredom.

"We'll miss the movie at this rate," Jay added rather testily, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Alright, keep your pants on," Chris snorted, releasing her chokehold on her sister and sidling up to the front counter. Aleighna followed a step behind, muttering darkly under her breath.

Once the gang had all been granted access into the main lobby and paid a visit to the snack bar, they ambled into the theater labeled for _17 Again_ and claimed a few seats in the topmost row.

"Lizzy, you're gonna choke on that if you're not careful," Aleighna warned, shaking her head as her best friend tossed up a piece of popcorn and caught it in her mouth.

"What are you, my mom?" Lizzy joked, repeating her earlier actions and breaking into a violent coughing fit not a second later.

Rolling her eyes in an "I told you so" manner, Aleighna wordlessly handed the spluttering girl her soda.

Meanwhile, Chris was in the midst of an animated popcorn war with Jay. The two of them laughed uproariously as bits of kernels got stuck in their hair and ended up tumbling down their shirts.

Just as Jay reached for another handful of buttery ammunition, Chris snatched the half-emptied bag away from him. Without giving him the chance to register what she was doing, Chris dumped the entire thing on her opponent's head, burying him in a salty landslide.

Jay blinked at Chris in blatant shock for the length of heartbeat, and then they both busted up laughing again.

"I feel sorry for the guy that has to clean this up," Jay chortled, shaking the clumps of popcorn from his dark locks and smirking.

"Yeah, no kidding," Chris giggled, grabbing a fluffy kernel from the mountain that had sprung up where Jay's lap had once been and popping it in her mouth.

Before Jay could even think of a response, a deep, horrifyingly familiar voice rang out from somewhere far below them, raised in a level of fury that the twins knew all too well.

"CHRISTELLA AND ALEIGHNA MAR!"

None of the quartet had to ask to know that a certain pair of teenage fugitives was most likely about to be murdered. They all sank down low in their seats, praying that Jak hadn't been able to spot them from the floor.

"I know you're up there!" Jak called impatiently, confirming his sisters' worst fears. "Are you going to get your asses down here quietly or am I going to have to come get you?"

The crowd assembled in the theater had fallen chillingly silent, all eyes trained on Jak where he stood in the main doorway, visibly fuming. As if on cue, those uneasy stares all shifted as one, landing on Chris and Aleighna as the duo stood shakily from their chairs. Their footsteps seemed to echo unnaturally in the frozen air of the expansive room as they made their way to where the irate warrior waited, their hands clasped between them in a soundless gesture of support.

"Jak," Chris greeted the eldest Mar coolly, her tone much more composed than she felt.

"Just what do you two think you're doing?" Jak demanded evenly, his words an icy calm that was equally more dangerous and more terrifying than if he'd started yelling again.

Summoning up a spark of courage before she could crumble beneath her brother's glare, Aleighna straightened up to her full height, her gaze hard as solid jade.

"We're spending our birthday the way _we_ want to for a change," she announced, her speech unwavering and her features unreadable.

"We've spent too many years doing what _you_ want us to," Chris chipped in, her posture identical to her other half's. "And honestly, we're sick of it."

"So you think that being fifteen makes it ok for you to sneak around behind my back?" Jak hissed, baring his teeth in an almost animalistic snarl.

"Yes, because you never listen to us!" Chris snapped, her whole body trembling with suppressed rage. "We're not little kids anymore, Jak! You need to stop treating us like ones!"

"Mom and Dad trusted me to watch over you, so as long as you live in _my_ house, you follow _my_ rules!" Jak was losing his grip on his temper precariously fast; a crackle of Dark Eco flitted over the surface of his skin. "We're leaving, now."

"No!" Aleighna screeched, an enraged fire blazing in her green irises. She swore viciously at the top of her lungs, causing Chris to glance at her sharply in utter amazement. A collective "ooh" emanated from the transfixed audience, and several mothers covered their children's ears, shooting the brunette sinister looks.

That solitary expletive crossed the line far beyond Jak's breaking point. Without warning, he lashed out with an open hand, striking Aleighna square across the cheek and bearing her to the ground.

The reaction was instantaneous. Nearly everyone in the watching crowd leapt to his or her feet, firing insults and livid protests at Jak. Lizzy and Jay were amongst the loudest of them, their furious screams rising above the tumult of the theater.

Jak, meanwhile, had fallen almost disturbingly quiet, blatant shock plastered all over his expression. His wide stare remained locked on Aleighna where she sat on the dingy carpet, pressing her palm to her reddening face and gazing up at him with eyes brimmed in tears.

A heartbeat passed in which the siblings seemed to submerge in their own little bubble, the roar of the audience fading to a background murmur. Chris took one look at her fallen twin, and then whipped her focus back around to Jak, her anger spiking dangerously. So quickly that anyone who'd blinked at that precise moment would have missed it, the young she-elf brought her fist back and then launched it forward, punching her brother right in the jaw.

An abrupt hush fell over the theater, uncountable pairs of eyes widening in awe upon seeing a teenage girl take on the most famous — and infamous — man in Haven City without so much as a tremble of fear. Jak reached up and gingerly rubbed the spot where a bruise was rapidly forming on his skin, staring absolutely dumbstruck at Chris. The feisty blonde herself had deflated as swiftly as she'd retaliated, and she blinked numbly at her own fingers, appalled by what she'd just done.

Aleighna was the first of the trio to regain her composure. She hauled herself cautiously to her feet, the pain in her face from Jak's blow having already subsided thanks to her Eco-infused lifeblood.

"Maybe… we should go," she muttered, casting furtive glances between the other two. "We've made enough of a scene already."

Nodding vaguely in agreement, her family followed her as she led the way out of the spacious room, down a darkened hallway and out into the main lobby. Not a word was exchanged between them as they exited the building, immediately greeted with the sight of Jak's cruiser idling by the curb.

"What happened?" Keira demanded instantly as the others filed noiselessly into the vehicle, her attention flickering from one blank expression to the next.

"Jak happened," Chris grumbled under her breath, while Aleighna simply shifted her gaze to the parking lot, indifferent.

Keira frowned as if she wanted to press the issue, but obviously thought better of it and let the subject drop. She cast a sidelong look at her stony-faced fiancé, noticing the large violet blotch stretched over his jawbone and shaking her head sadly.

The ride home was uncomfortably tense. Nobody spoke the entire time, and agitation crackled in the air like a stroke of lightning. Jak's focus never strayed from the traffic ahead of them, his hands clutching the steering controls so tightly that his knuckles were bleached white.

It felt as if an eternity had passed when the four of them finally arrived at their apartment, the air surrounding them just as — if not more — frigid as it had been for the past several minutes. Jak unlocked the front door and stepped inside, his back to the three women as they filed in behind him. He didn't stop until they'd reached the living room, where the twins paused nervously a few feet from him while Keira sank gratefully onto the couch, her hands supporting her aching lower body.

For an immeasurable second, the group remained locked in an uncertain stalemate, Chris and Aleighna watching their brother's unmoving form warily. Keira, too, had her attention trained on the unusually quiet elf, chewing on her bottom lip unconsciously as she tried to unravel just what had transpired between the trio of siblings.

Just as Aleighna and Chris were sure they'd explode from the silence that seemed to be suffocating them with its weight, Jak finally found his voice.

"I'm sorry," he muttered, almost too softly for his companions to hear. His sisters exchanged a shocked glance, that simple sentence being the last thing they'd expected from the eldest Mar; he'd been completely irate with them not fifteen minutes ago.

"C-come again?" they stammered in unison, hardly daring to believe their ears.

"I'm sorry," Jak repeated more clearly, turning slowly to face them. His features were etched with the deepest regret, conveying the undeniable sincerity of his words. "I shouldn't have acted the way I did. I thought I knew what was best for you two, but I never bothered to consider that your opinions might be just as important as mine."

Utterly flabbergasted, the twins could do nothing but gawk at him; they'd been expecting a grueling tirade at the very least when they got home, not the guilt-ridden apology they were receiving now.

"I understand why you snuck off to be with your friends," Jak continued, encouraged a bit by the girls' response to his little spiel. "Really, I do. I guess some part of me just wasn't ready for the pair of you to grow up, but my selfish pride wouldn't let me see it." He paused, the corner of his mouth twitching as though he were fighting a smile. "Huh, and to think that for the past seven years I always told myself that I'd never turn into Dad."

"Jakky-boy, I think that ship sailed _long_ ago," Chris joked, having managed to regain her equanimity. Without giving Jak a chance to react, she raced over to him and flung her arms around him, pulling him in for a bone-crushing hug.

"We forgive you, Jak," Aleighna piped up gently, joining her siblings in the middle of the room and winding her arms around them both.

"Thank the Precursors," Jak chuckled, ruffling each of their hair playfully. He fixed them with a stern look, the edge taken off of the expression by a teasing gleam in his eyes. "Just don't do it again, or I might have to put Keira in charge of you for a while."

"And what is that supposed to mean, Jak Mar?" Keira snapped from the sofa, while Aleighna and Chris cringed at the thought. The last time they'd been left in Keira's hands, she'd nearly taken their heads off with her trusty wrench.

"Nothing," Jak replied innocently, holding up his hands in a gesture of peace, his arms still slung over the identical she-elves' shoulders. "I'm just saying that you could do a far better job disciplining these knuckleheads than I could. I'm too soft on them."

"Pfft, tell that to my face," Aleighna grumbled, rubbing her cheek absentmindedly at the memory of her brother's earlier lapse of control. "I'm surprised you didn't give me a bruise to match the one Chris painted on your jaw for you, big guy."

"Wait a minute, what is she talking about?" Keira questioned sharply, her eyes narrowing to menacing emerald slits as they zeroed in on Jak.

"I have no idea," the three-time world-savior lied instantly, swallowing the apprehension that was beginning to bubble in his throat. There was only one person that had the ability to truly frighten him, and that person just so happened to be hauling herself to her feet, her bright green irises ablaze.

"You don't mean to tell me that you _hit_ your _little sister_, do you?" Keira hissed, advancing on Jak as he rapidly backed away from her, tripping over his own feet in his haste.

"Keir, l-let me explain," he pleaded, bumping into a wall and cowering against it as his heavily pregnant girlfriend towered over him. Perhaps it was her unpredictable mood swings, but somehow the fact that Keira's stomach was three times its normal size only made her that much more terrifying.

"Listen here, dark boy, if I wasn't expecting your child, then so help me I'd impale you with a dull screwdriver!" Keira growled, placing her hands threateningly on her hips. Jak held up his arms defensively, a feeble attempt at protecting himself in case she happened to have a spare tool nearby that she deemed suitable for beating him with.

"Best birthday ever," Chris laughed from the sidelines, bumping fists with her other half and grinning broadly.

"Agreed," Aleighna giggled, flopping down onto the couch beside her opposite and getting comfortable to enjoy the mayhem.

**The End**

* * *

**JKA: Wow, I just realized, this is the first one of our stories where I actually got to write the ending chapter.**

**FES: Meh, don't get used to it. I was feeling generous. :P**

**Well, we hope you guys enjoyed story number... *does quick calculation* four in our little series, and keep an eye out for more from us! Please leave a review, tell us what you thought, and we'll be seeing you around! JKA and FES, signing off~**


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